Manufacture of nitrated cellulose products.



10. and residing at 31 St. Georges street, Cape Town, Union of South Africa, have invented wennnaw n. rnoiuson, Warren is. snvnnn, AND enoncn rwrcnoss, or earn rot-via, son'rn armcn.

MANUFACTURE OF NITIIR'ATEJD CELLULOSE PRODUCTS.

Patented Apr. as, rare.

W 1,392,455, Specification of Letters Patent.

No Drawing.

Town, Union of South Africa, WALTER DALRYMPLE SEVERN, a subject of King of England, and residing at Junior Civil *Service Club, Greenmarket Square, Cape Town, Union of South Africa, and GEORGE Twronoss, a subject of the King oi England,

certain, new and useful llm rovements inthe Manufacture of Nitrated ellulose Products,- of which thefollowing is a specification.

The present invention relates to nitrated cellulose. products, of which explosives such as 'trinitrocellulose, and industrial products of the celluloid type, are examples.

- According to the practice existing. hitherto, it has been usualto employ cottonv as the cellulose material from which the products referred to are made, owing tocertain well recognized technical advantages for this purpose which cotton possesses as compared with other gforms of cellulose.

As the result of careful experiment, w have discovered that the wood of the baobab treehas much the same technical qualities as cotton for the purpose in view. llt is coniosed of almost pure cellulose and is fibrous in a high degree. Under a microscopic examination thefibers are seen closely to re-' semble cotton fiber and they-behave very similarly in the process of nitration. The

'nitrated product is, like that from cotton,

readily soluble in acetone. The wood at the center on": the tree is the best, but the whole of the tree can be used except the bark.

The resent invention accordin ly consists in emp oying such M as the co ulose ina- Application filed April 18, me. Serial Ito. 224M431.

terial in the manufacture of nitrated cellulose roducts. It also consists in the nitrated pro not so formed In order to prepare it for nitration, the wood is appropriately treated to reduce it to the proper mechanical condition and to remove resinous or other undesirable constitucuts.

This operation may be carried out as follows :.-The wood is mechanically disintegrated by roughly tearing apart the fibers longitudinally and to some extent transversely, until the fibers are reduced to shreds of about 1 to 2 millimeters thichess.

It is then boiled in weak caustic soda solution,drained and washed until the soda is substantially removed. Subsequently it is treated with weak hydrochloric acid in a pulpin apparatus until the fiber is substantia y separated into. single strands;

after which, it is washed free from acid and dried. After any remaining lumps have been removed from the fiber, the latter is nitrated in the ordina manner according to the product require Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we claim is As a new product, nitrated baobalo Wood 

